Whirlwind Cowboy

“You’ve been staring at me since we sat down,” he said baldly.

She flushed at being so obvious. Reaching up, she touched her cheek. “What happened to your face?”

His eyes narrowed and his voice turned hard. “Your beau shot me and his bullet skinned a trail up my face.”

She winced. Even though the wound was healing, it had a fresh look to it. “Is that why you hate him?”

“No, that’s after the fact. He led a band of rustlers for months, stealing not just my cattle, but my neighbors', too. People who were also his neighbors. Due to the drought last year, we had already lost plenty of cattle. His thieving almost cost my family our ranch. Add to that, he murdered someone two days ago during a bank robbery.”

This Cosgrove sounded like a horrible person. Deborah didn’t want to believe she could be involved with him, but Bram certainly believed it.

The dust tickled her nose and she stifled a sneeze. After a minute, she said, “May I ask you something else?”

“More about Cosgrove?” he sneered.

“No. About me, you, everything.”

In the hazy light, his eyes were like dark steel. His gaze trailed from her face to her breasts and back up, making her stomach dip. Hunger flared in his eyes, then was gone. She shivered.

He studied her for a minute, then shrugged.

This man had proposed to her. Shouldn’t she recognize something about him deep inside? She had no sense of him other than the fact that he was strong, no-nonsense and gruff. “You said I lived with my mother and sisters?”

“Yes. They’re younger than you. Jordan, Michal and Marah.”

She searched her mind for an impression or part of a memory. Nothing.

“You have cousins here, too. Riley and Davis Lee Holt.”

None of these people sounded familiar. She tried to calm the panic rising inside her. With a shaking hand, she tucked her hair behind her ear. “You said I lived near Whirlwind. Where is that?”

“North central Texas.”

“Do you have kin nearby, too?”

Bram eyed her skeptically. “Yeah. I live at the Circle R ranch with my cousin, Georgia, and Uncle Ike. My brother, Jake, and his wife also live there.”

All the names spun in her head. “You’re a rancher?”

He arched a brow. “Yes. That’s why I live on a ranch.”

She flushed. The man irritated the fire out of her, but right now he was the only person who might be able to help her remember.

“What happened to your parents?”

“My pa died years ago and my ma lit out right after,” he said with exaggerated patience—as though he were humoring her, not because he believed she needed answers. “Ike raised me and my brother.”

She braced herself for the possibility that he might not answer her next question. “When did you ask me to marry you?”

He pushed his plate away, his gaze piercing as though he was trying to probe her brain. “How long are you going to carry on with this?”

“I’m not carrying on. I need to know.” She wanted to smack the disbelieving look off his handsome face. “When did it happen? When did you ask me?”

“A little over three weeks ago.” His voice hardened and his eyes went flat. “The day before you took off.”

Her head pounded. She had hoped something about her or him would spark a memory, but nothing had. She couldn’t even remember something as important as a marriage proposal. “Why did I turn you down?”

A muscle flexed in his jaw as his gaze leveled on hers. Blade-sharp, frigid. “You wanted to take a job as a schoolteacher. I wanted you to stay with me, and you said you’d think about it. Instead, you left the next day.”

No wonder he had been so angry when he’d found her in the cabin. Her voice cracked. “I don’t remember any of it.”

“So you say.”

Why wouldn’t he believe her? “I’m sorry. I

really don’t.”

Plainly skeptical, Bram pushed his chair away from the table and rose.

Surprised at a quick flare of panic that he might leave, she asked tentatively, “Where are you going?”

“I’ve been up since before dawn and I need some shut-eye. You can do whatever you like as long as it’s quiet.”

She bit her lip. She was tired to the marrow of her bones, but there was only one bed.

He saw her glance toward the bedroom and barked out a sharp laugh. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m getting my bedroll. I won’t even darken your door. You made your choice real clear.”

She swallowed hard. She might not remember him, but she could appreciate what was right in front of her. Stranger or not, jilted beau or not, he affected her. When he looked at her, every nerve tingled and his deep voice sent a tremor to the pit of her stomach.

She didn’t like it. “What will we do tomorrow?”

“Depends on the storm. Once it’s over, I’m taking you home.”

His tone said he couldn’t wait to be rid of her. The idea that she had a place to go, that she belonged somewhere, should’ve reassured her, but it didn’t.

Though she had learned a few things about her family and Bram, they didn’t really mean anything.

She had hoped his answers would help her remember, give her some kind of anchor, but they hadn’t. Thanks to that big strapping mountain of a man, she felt even more off balance.

She was getting to him just as she always had, and it made Bram madder than hell.

He couldn’t get the image of her face out of his head. Undone, disoriented. She had appeared desperate for information and when he had given it to her, a light had gone out of her. Hope.

The way her face had crumpled when he told her about her rejection of his marriage proposal had him wondering if she was telling the truth about losing her memory. Dammit, he didn’t want to wonder. He didn’t want to care either, but judging by the rush of anger and protectiveness he’d felt upon spying her bruised jaw and the cut on her temple, he did.

Bram swept up the latest layer of dust that had filtered in through the sides of the window and deposited it in an old water pail. After shaking out his bedroll, he spread it and sat down with his back against the wall adjacent to the bedroom. He wanted to focus on Cosgrove, but as usual, Deborah’s presence had run everything else out of his mind.

Frustrated, he dragged a hand across his nape. The sooner he got shed of Deborah Blue, the sooner he could continue his search for the murdering rustler who had nearly ruined his family.